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In years past, the start of a new year either hasn’t registered on my emotional radar (likely due to too much NYE bubbly) or has made me a little sad thinking about time flying by. This year I feel different though. I feel happy and excited for 2019 in a way I can’t explain. True, every year has its ups and downs but the downs in 2018 were, I’m not going to lie, way down there and sometimes it felt like the ups were few and far between. On the bright side, this year I grew in ways I didn’t expect and for that I am grateful.

This pic of Loulou de la Falaise, muse and right hand (wo)man to Yves Saint Laurent, on her wedding day in the seventies sums up my outlook and aspirations for 2019. Here she is confident and content, creative and basking in the joy of being herself. I want my work on this blog (the unexpected baby I created in 2018) to be filled with as much creativity and confidence as Ms. Falaise exudes here. I hope my year, and yours too, is dripping with jewels, tied up in a turban, and downed with a glass of champagne.

Toast to a new year!

-Laura

I’m sure you’re wondering about the name Bloomsbury & Battle. It’s a combination of two different sounding words – one soft and floral, the other sharp and tailored – that together represent my aesthetic and what I’d like for this blog to represent. Bloomsbury is for the Bloomsbury Group, a group of English writers, thinkers and artists active in the first half of the 20th century; Battle is for Peachtree Battle, the street in Atlanta that we know and love. So what do an English artistic movement and a street in Buckhead have in common? Actually not a lot! It’s more about what these things call to my mind…Bloomsbury is the perfect floral chintz fabric, a faded English country house, a sunny impressionist painting…Battle is ivy covered white brick, the Allman Brothers, and the fits-like-a-glove button downs at Ann Mashburn. It’s the English with the Southern, the old with the new, and the traditions of both places that I want to convey. I know the word tradition can sound stuffy but I promise I’ll keep things fresh.

For the visual learners, here’s where we’re headed:

[Bunny Mellon’s Manhattan townhome by John Fowler via AD]

[Cecilie Bahnsen AW18]

[Vanessa Bell, Abstract Painting c. 1914 via The Tate]

[Savannah Oaks via Pinterest]

[Min Hogg via World of Interiors]

[Pandora Sykes]

[Atlanta Traditional via @limestoneboxwoods]

[Brock Collection R18 via Vogue]

[Sara Ruffin Costello’s New Orleans home via One Kings Lane]

See you there.
-Laura

Hey y’all.

Okay, so I know what you’re thinking…Haven’t we reached MAX capacity for fashion, interiors, and lifestyle blogs? Isn’t the internet, and the more in-our-face Instagram, overwhelmed with IT girls telling us what trends to follow (the 90s are back FYI), how to layer our sofa pillows, and where to go on our next insta-worthy summer vacation (last year Amalfi, this year Greece)? PROBABLY. But over the past few months I’ve been feeling the urge to get my voice out there.

My dear friend Meghan popped one of my ‘limiting beliefs’ balloons recently and this was that I couldn’t possibly be a _________ [blogger, artist, designer, fill in the blank creative] because there are so many people out there already succeeding at it. I have allowed myself to feel like there isn’t room for me and my self-expression even though there are countless examples of people, today and through history, who have put their creativity out in the world even though they weren’t the first or the most famous. So this is my WHY – to challenge myself to be more ‘me’ and to share that person with the world (or with the friends who will humor me by reading).

Now on to the WHAT…

Bloomsbury & Battle is the place where I will share the ideas that I can’t get out of my head. There will be posts on fashion and interiors, definitely a few recipes, and maybe even some meager gardening (more like potting) tips – the sky’s the limit here – but most importantly there will be dialogue on the people, places, and things I find beautiful and inspirational. Whether it’s a song, a hotel, or a painter, I want to share the things I’m into in an authentic way.